Home Number Seven
by Krazzy Kezz
Summary: 15y/o Temperance Brennan has recently moved in with her seventh foster family- and its hell. But whe she is asked to tutor one of the idiot jocks in exchange for some cash, Tempe begins to wonder if maybe this time, things will be different. or will they?
1. Spare Cash

**AN: I HAVE UPLOADED THIS CHAPTER WITH SLIGHT ALTERATIONS SO IT FITS THE TIMELINE (I forgot Christmas isn't in the Summer holidays over there in the US of A!)**

Disclaimer: I don't have enough money to own Bones – if I did, I would.

Well, this is my first ever fic, so PLEASE gimme so feedback. I have about 3 more chaps written and I intend to continue, but I'll only post em if people are interested.

Oh, and I'm and Aussie, so if you don't understand any of the slang that I may have slipped in – sorry, and fell free to ask!

Hope you like

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Monday. School. _Finally._

Unlike most fifteen year old teenage girls, Temperance Brennan absolutely loved school, and for a multitude of reasons.

At school, Temperance could let her genius brain run wild without having to remember to not use exotic or large words, she could happily immerse herself in a scientific textbook for the lunch hour. At school, Temperance was free of her foster family and the place she was forced to call home.

Tempe had been at this latest school - and foster home - for a surprising three months, two of which had been wasted on summer break. It had been awful – extended family gatherings where everyone stared at the freak, asked awkward questions or just avoided her, and endless days filled with boredom. It was now week two, and she was glad school was back.

'Well, I can definitely conclude that this school is a marginal improvement on the last one,' she thought to herself as she paced down the corridor, shaking her head slightly at the students milling around.

Tempe had been at this latest school - and foster home - for a month, the last week of which had been wasted on mid semester break. She was glad school was back.

'Well, I can definitely conclude that this school is a marginal improvement on the last one,' she thought to herself as she paced down the corridor, shaking her head slightly at the students milling around.

On her left were the 'deadheads', the ones who spent their free time high on one of many different drugs; to her right were the girls who proudly upheld their reputation as the 'one night lifetime' - a bloke got one night of fun in exchange for a lifetime of responsibility. They would gather around, their hands resting over their swollen bellies and compare ultrasound images. Although she never wanted children herself, Temperance couldn't help but feel a little envious of them - at least they had someone who would love them.

And straight up ahead were Tempe's least favourite people - the jocks and the cheerleaders; the self-absorbed guys who breezed their way through school, given top grades simply because they could throw a ball, and the snobby, backstabbing girls who flaunted their wares and threw themselves shamelessly on the footballer's laps. Her foster sister was one of them.

"Hey Garbo!" a snide voice that Tempe instantly recognized as that of her foster sister, Camille, called. "You forgot your lunch!"

As she yelled, Camille threw a small bag of stinking vegetable scraps in her direction. Moving quickly, Temperance managed to avoid the majority of the filth, with only a small amount landing on her shoes and the bottom of her jeans.

Her cheeks flaming and her mouth set in a firm line, Tempe continued along the corridor at a steady pace, trying to ignore the peals of laughter that followed her.

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The last lesson of the day - advanced chemistry, her favourite. Mr. Reid was Tempe's favourite teacher; he was fair, and was not fazed or offended by her intelligence.

He moved around the classroom, handing back their most recent test papers. "Excellent Temperance," he murmured as he placed hers on the desk, the big letters 'A+' written in red ink at the top.

The corner of Tempe's lips curved upward into a smile as she flicked through the pages, looking for mistakes. There were none.

"What the?" A loud voice startled Temperance out of her reverie.

"A D? Come on Sir, you can't fail me. If I don't have a pass I can't play, and we're undefeated!" the voice complained loudly across the room.

"Mr. Booth. As your teacher, I _can_ fail you. Especially considering your awful performance in this exam. You will see me after class," Mr. Reid responded calmly, continuing his rounds. Temperance smirked as she pictured the expression on the football star's face.

Before she knew it, the class had ended and people were racing to dump their equipment, shouting and jostling one another in their haste.

Temperance waited until the majority of the class had disappeared out into the corridor before removing her safety glasses and beginning to clean everyone's instruments. She enjoyed this time alone in the laboratory, and more time spend there meant less at 'home'.

As she worked, she watched on disinterestedly as Seeley Booth sulked in front of the teacher's desk; in her head she was busy reciting the names of the bones in the human body.

Temperance had just run out of bones that she could remember and was moving on to muscles when she was distracted by the sound of her name.

"Temperance!" Mr. Reid called. "Could you come here a moment?"

Tempe approached the front of the room, warily eyeing them both.

"Now, as you undoubtedly would have heard earlier, Mr. Booth here is failing Chemistry."

She shot a quick glance at him, but the football star was staring off to the side, anger and embarrassment evident on his face.

"Technically, the school is required to have a teacher available of an afternoon to tutor such students, but due to family commitments and some plain laziness, no one can do it.

I was wondering if you would be interested in being Seeley's tutor, at least until the next exams at the end of the semester."

Temperance opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off.

"I'm aware you haven't been here long, but it's obvious that you're smarter than most of the teachers here already and I know you're not struggling with the work load, or I wouldn't have asked. And you'd be paid - how does $20 an hour sound?"

As much as she didn't want to have to spend any extra time with the self-centered jerk that was Seeley Booth, she knew that she could really use the money; especially considering she wouldn't have to tell her foster parents about it.

"Okay. I'll do it," she said, looking at her teacher.

"Thank you Temperance," he replied. "It means a great deal."

Tempe nodded slightly then turned to her new student. "Tomorrow afternoon, 4:30, I'll meet you here, okay?"

After seeing him nod painfully in assent, Brennan grabbed her bag and marched out the door leaving, the two men staring after her.

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Now, all you gotsa do now is click your mouse on that pretty blue square down there and write some pretty (or not so pretty) words to me! Pleeeeeeeeease!!


	2. Typical Male

**HELLO PEOPLE!! YOU ARE AMAZING!!**

I was not planning on posting before this weekend; by I was soooo stunned by the wonderful feedback I received from everyone that I couldn't wait any longer. (Guilty pleasure)

I have a few chapters already written, but I can't promise that I will be able to update on a regular basis – I'm a first year Med Student, so that takes up the majority of my time. This is like my little stress relief thing.

Oh, and I was looking for someone who would be interested in proofreading my work. I don't think it would take much, the only thing that would be a pain is the difference in spelling between Australia and America, so an Ozzie might be better (I'm happy with anything).

Once again, **THANKYOU** all reading my work, hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Seeley Booth wondered down the corridor toward the chem. labs, whistling a tune, his bag slung over his shoulder. He was flushed and dripping from the showers, fresh from a session of football practice and flirting with the girls who hung around the stands.

Easing the door open, Seeley slipped silently into the room and looked around for his tutor. His eyes finally settled on Temperance, who was standing in front of the model skeleton in the corner, her hands moving delicately over the bones, not quite touching.

She was not bad to look at he decided, once you got past her penetrating stare and emotionless voice. He'd checked her out a couple of times in class and not been impressed - she was impossibly small for a person of their age, bordering on unhealthily thin and she kept herself hidden away under her scrawny auburn hair and daggy clothes.

'But she had a nice face,' he thought. A kind of classic beauty that was only found in the movies. It was truly captivating.

"You're late, Booth," she said, not turning around.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," he breezed as he wondered over. "You know how it is, being Captain of the team and all, it's hard to get away from practice on time. Oh, and call me Seeley."

"No I don't know what it's like, and in future, if you are going to spend your time flaunting your alpha male status and gawking at those girls breasts, you can inform me beforehand. I have better things to do than waste my time waiting for you, _Booth_," she emphasized his name as she spoke, her hands still running over the skeleton.

"Okay! I'm sorry, Temperance. You know, you sound kinda jealous, that it wasn't you I was 'gawking at', he gloated, puffing out his chest.

Temperance was absolutely flabbergasted by the pure size of his ego, and was unable to shoot off a quick reply.

"How about I take you out to the diner down the road after we've finished here to make it up to you? Or we could take the Comaro for a spin?" he continued, smiling charmingly at her.

"I don't know what that means, and no thank you. I'm sorry to pop your overly large bubble, but I find you quite repulsive, there is_ no_ way I would ever be jealous of someone who's largest achievement is sleeping with multiple footballers, I am _not _interested in having sex with you, and _you _shouldn't be propositioning a fifteen year old," she replied in a single breath, still not looking at him. "And you will call me Brennan."

"Whoa! That's a pretty big leap to make; from dinner to sex!" he gasped, stepping backward slightly but continuing to grin smugly. "And anyway, I hate to break it to you, but I'm _so_ not interested. And it's burst your bubble, not pop, by the way."

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Hold on, fifteen? You should be eighteen this year. What are you doing in my year?"

"I have a genius IQ, could probably read and write long before you could, I skipped first grade and did the final two years of primary school in a single year. That's what I'm doing in your class," she recited.

'Well that explains her size. And her lack of... development,' thought Seeley.

There was another pause.

"What are you doing, beautiful?"

"Don't call me that. And I believe that would be considered as you taking an interest in me. But, to answer your question, I am _trying _to recite the names of the bones in the human body. Now can we please get to work?" she replied, finally turning to look him straight in the eye.

"Okay, okay! Don't get you're knickers in a knot!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in mock surrender.

"Before we start, I have conditions for my helping you. Firstly, I'm not interested, so don't bother. Second, I don't like human contact, so don't touch me. It's you who's going to be doing the work; I'm just here to help you. And finally, no amount of bribery, sexual suggestions or anything else will convince me to do your work or cheat for you so you can pass. Understood? And I don't know what that meant, but I would prefer that you didn't make references to my underwear," she stated firmly as she opened her workbook.

After a moment of stunned silence, Booth sighed and sat down beside her. It was going to be a long afternoon.

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Seeley Booth looked up at the clock above the blackboard. It read 5:03pm; two minutes since he had last checked.

Sighing loudly, he turned his face back to the book in front of him.

'This is frigging ridiculous,' he thought angrily. 'Stupid prick of a teacher thinks he's so smart for flunking me. This shit is useless!'

Booth sighed again, letting eyes drift to his tutor, who was sitting opposite him, deeply immersed in her own work.

'Hmm... Nice view,' he thought with a grin, his eyes locked on her cleavage which was clearly visible as she hunched over the desk. 'May as well enjoy it, cause there's no way anyone's getting any closer. Tight arse.'

A number of minutes passed in silence.

"That's it, I quit!" Temperance growled, standing up and grabbing her books.

"What the...? What'd I do?" Seeley looked up, bewildered.

"You've done hardly any work the entire time we've been here, and you've spent the last five minutes staring at my chest, and practically drooling!" she almost shouted at him as he continued to gather her things.

"But, I-"

"Your charm won't work with me Seeley Booth," she snapped. Temperance paused for a moment, then let out a sigh.

"You're just as bad as the rest of your mates; always trying to drag me into a storage cupboard for a free grope," she said softly before turning to leave.

The young man sat in his chair, to stunned at her outburst to move. And as he stared silently after, Seeley Booth simply didn't know what to think.

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Well, what did you think? Like it? Hate it? Bored out of your brains? Let me know! Blue button, bottom left…

**Kezz**


	3. Anything?

gday folks!

thanks for all your amazing reviews - im still shocked that i got more than 10 for a single chapter!! (i didnt think my writing was that good)

oh, and i just thought i should let everyone know that i have no personal knowledge of the american school system, grid iron or much other things american either (i had peanut butter cups once - YUMMY!!) anyway, i just wanted to let all you people from the US of A that i dont mea to offend you - im sure not all cheerleaders and bitches and jocks (why do you call them that?) are idiots, but it justs works for the story.)

well, i think thats all iwanted to say, so go forth and read, enjoy and review!

OMG - I SAW MY FIRST CADAVER THIS WEEK; IT WAS SOOO AWESOME! (i wonder how many people i just freaked out)

Kezz (aka future neurosurgeon or forensic pathologist)

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As she aimlessly wandered the streets, Temperance had been furious. Furious at him for being another sex-crazed moron, and furious at herself for believing she would have been able to work with him. And she'd really been looking forward to having that money, too.

But by the time she had reached home and been screamed at for being late to help with dinner and housework, Seeley Booth was the furtherest thing from her mind. It had been another night without any food.

As she lay shivering in bed that night, her stomach aching with hunger, Brennan had resolved that tomorrow, if asked, she would tell him that she was simply too busy to be wasting her time.

'And that's exactly what I'm going to do,' she told herself as she walked into the school grounds the next morning. 'Show the bastard who not to mess with.'

With that thought fixed firmly in her mind, Tempe headed toward her first class.

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Temperance was early to chemistry that afternoon, and neither Booth nor Mr. Reid had arrived yet. Over the next few minutes, the classroom was slowly filled with chattering students, followed shortly by their teacher.

"Quiet everybody!" Mr. Reid called from the front of the room. "Quiet! Now, I'm about to hand out this terms assignment -" he was cut off by a collective groan.

He was about to continue when the classroom door opened and in strolled Seeley Booth. He made a show of ignoring the teacher on his way to his seat, brushing past Bren as he did so.

"Now that Mr. Booth has so kindly graced us with his presence, I will continue. This assignment will last all term; it will be done in pairs - chosen by me - and everyone will have different topics. You will have time to work on it in class next week and the one after; the rest you will do in your own time. Now, as I know how eager you all are to get started, I will read out the partnerships."

'I hope I'm with Jack, he's quite intelligent. Or Angela, she has a good work ethic and is probably the closest thing I have to a friend here,' Temperance thought to herself, quite pleased at the prospects of her new assignment.

"Temperance Brennan, you will be partnered with Seeley Booth; your assignment will be based on fossil fuels," the voice of her teacher jolted her from her train of thought.

Stifling a groan, Tempe dropped her head into her hands, truly terrified. Booth would be truly useless for this assignment; she knew that to do well, she would have to do it all herself, which would be a considerable increase to her already large workload.

'Oh, god!' she thought. 'This is a disaster. He's going to drag me down, and this will count toward our exit score – anything lower than top marks and there goes my chances of a scholarship!'

After staring miserably down at her desk for minutes, Brennan noticed a roughly folded, slightly crumpled piece of paper that hadn't been there before.

Glancing up to see that Mr. Reid was otherwise occupied, Tempe slipped the note under her desk and began to read.

_Bones,_

_I'm calling you that cause you don't like Temperance and I don't like Brennan, and the only other thing I know about you is that you're smart and you like to play with bones (Smarty just didn't suit you)._

Well, it's definitely an improvement on 'Garbo' she thought wryly as she glanced up to check no one was watching her. They weren't, so she continued to read.

_Anyway Bones, I'm really, REALLY sorry for yesterday - I was acting like a total prick. I know this probably doesn't mean much to you, seeing as you reckon I'm a brainless football jock, but please give me one last chance. I NEED to pass this subject; I'm desperate and I'll do anything - you name it._

_Please Bones, please, please, please, please, PLEASE!_

_The moron, Seeley Booth_

A small smile graced the lips of Temperance Brennan as she refolded the letter and tucked it safely within her bag.

'Anything, hey?' she thought to herself. 'Maybe I can get this assignment done after all.'

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Once again, the end of the day found Temperance Brennan in the science room, humming quietly to herself as she washed the row of dirty beakers. The only difference was that on this particular day, Temperance was not alone.

Almost hidden in the far corner of the room was Seeley Booth, watching and waiting.

"Well, are you just going to stand there staring my arse, or are you actually going to control your testosterone and help me with these?" she asked him without turning around.

Shaking his head in amazement that she had known he was there all along, Seeley dropped his bag, picked up a tea towel and moved over to her side.

After a few minutes of working in silence, Brennan broke the silence. "I forgive you - this time. And I am willing to continue tutoring you if you are willing to put a decent effort into this assignment. And by that I mean doing your fair share of the work," she stated.

"Thanks Bones!" Booth beamed, dropping the towel and moving to grab her in a hug.

Bewildered, he stared up at her pale face. In a single second, Tempe had managed to turn around, grab his arm, throw him over her shoulder and drop him to the ground.

"I'm sorry Booth, I'm really sorry. It's a reflex, I didn't mean to attack you, but I _really_ don't like to be touched" she gasped as she helped him to his feet, her face red with embarrassment.

"Hey, no problem. Besides, I was the one who broke the 'no contact' rule, so it's my fault as well," Seeley replied lightly, trying desperately to hide the pain he was feeling in his lower back. "And anyway, I bet you were just itching to do that after yesterday."

"That's certainly true," Bren replied, smiling slightly.

"So, when shall we get started? You wanna come over my place tomorrow arvo?"

"No!" Tempe yelled; a slightly wild look appearing in her eyes. "I don't want to go to your house, and I don't want to see your room either!"

Booth knew he couldn't afford to get on her bad side again, so he simply held up his hands and took a step back. "Okay, okay! How about here? In the lab?" he said, furiously back-tracking.

"T-that would be good," she stuttered slightly, before regaining her composure. "I will ask Mr. Reid about it tomorrow; I'm sure he will be fine with it. Does Friday afternoon suit you at all?"

Smiling with relief that she appeared to have calmed down, Seeley answered her cheerfully. "Well, I have a team meeting for 45 minutes. Then I'm free for the rest of the night, so we can work for as long as you want. What do you say, Bones?"

"Sounds good. I will see you then. And don't call me Bones!" she replied.

He laughed loudly in response.

"I will see you on Friday, okay?" she said as she grabbed her books and headed for the door.

"See you then... Bones," he called after her is she left the room.

Seeley slowly gathered his equipment, gazing around the room. 'Strange,' he thought. 'This place actually seemed kinda interesting when Bones was here.'

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well, i do believe that this chapter was a bit shorter than the others. i hope you liked it though.

see that blue button there. untold riches behold those who press it. a land ofsweets and joy, and joyness. press the button charlie! yeah charlie, press the button!


	4. Tutorial Confessions

**hElLo PeOpLe! I aM sOoOoOoOo HaPpY!! bOnEs Is CoMiNg BaCk In AuStRaLiA!! yAy!! HaPpY dAnCe EvErYbOdY!!**

the only thing thats bad is that we have the Sully episodes coming up. Ive never seen any of the episodes with him in them, but I already dont like him (for obvious BB reasons).

Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, thankyou all for reviewing, sorry that chap was short, Ive tried to make this one longer.

**Oh, and Boothissexy - if your reading this, email me again, the last one didnt have your address on it!!**

Enjoy everybody!

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Friday came much too quickly for Tempe Brennan, and she was not happy. Any minute now, Seeley Booth would be showing up for their session, and then she had an entire weekend at home with her bitchy foster sister to look forward to.

As if he had read her thoughts, Seeley appeared. "G'day Bones," he said, flashing her a smile. As he approached the bench where she was seated, Seeley observed the frown lines that marred her pretty face.

"Hey, I'm perfectly on time, see?" He pointed to the clock on the wall. "So you can't possibly be made at me yet. Wanna tell me what wrong?"

"I hate weekends," Tempe muttered into her book.

"Hate weekends? Hate weekends?" Booth exclaimed, flopping into the seat next to her. "They're the best time of the week!"

"Not for me they're not."

"Why?"

Tempe looked up at him for the first time since he had arrived. "You're trying to tell me that you don't know about my... situation," she snorted.

"I know that you're a foster kid, but that's it. I don't know who your foster family is, or what they're like," he replied calmly.

"Well, it's not exactly something you brag about, and one of my foster sister's would make sure I was kicked out if anyone knew."

"Why?" he asked again.

"Because I'm an embarrassment and a disgrace, according to her."

"No you're not," Seeley said immediately. "She's clearly blind. But if you ever wanna talk about iţ I'm here. Complete confidence of course."

"Thank you'" she replied softly.

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They worked for the next twenty minutes, only breaking the silence when Booth needed help with a problem.

"How are you going with those questions Booth?" Bren asked him, shutting her textbook.

"Umm, I dunno. You tell me." Seeley handed the workbook over for her to check.

Temperance ran her finger slowly down the pages as she read, flicking occasionally. She was squinting slightly, causing little wrinkles to run across her forehead, and she was chewing at her bottom lip in concentration. Booth stared at her, mesmerized.

'She's so beautiful,' he thought suddenly. He shook his head slightly, as though to clear away the thought. 'Don't go there mate, she'll have you on your arse again before you can say '_oh, fuck'_.'

"Well, it all looks really good Booth. You're getting better," Temperance said, jolting Seeley from his thoughts, where he couldn't help but be pleased with her praise. "So how about we move on to our assignment? Now, I've done some preliminary research…"

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Booth and Bren had been working quietly for another half hour, speaking only to share the occasional piece of information. Temperance, who had been eager to begin work on their 'Fossil Fuels' assignment was now finding it quite difficult to concentrate; the sincerity of what Seeley had said earlier was continuing to distract her, and the desire to have someone with which she could talk was overpowering her rational thought processes.

"It's Camille and Felicia Saroyan," Tempe said suddenly, not looking up from her page.

"Huh?" Booth had been absorbed in a particularly difficult problem and hadn't heard her.

"My foster sisters – Camille and Felicia Saroyan," she repeated.

Booth was too stunned to think of a reply, and could only stare blankly at her.

"You know Camille, cheerleading captain, big breasts, small skirt, your girlfriend? The one who's constantly talking about how good you are in bed and the size of your genitalia. Remember her?"

"Oh," Booth mumbled, his cheeks flaming.

"Yeah," she agreed. "It's Camille who hates me; Felicia and I generally get along alright. Oh, and since I'm being truthful, I actually turned sixteen a month ago. I was simply trying to intimidate you with my intelligence yesterday."

There was a long silence in which Temperance had retrieved her pen from where it had fallen and had continued her work.

"She's not my girlfriend, just so you know."

"Mmm..." she murmured, clearly not convinced.

Another silence followed, considerably longer than the last.

"And she has no knowledge of the size of my..." his voice trailed off.

"Genitalia?" Tempe supplied, continuing to work.

"Yeah, that."

Temperance snorted. "Yeah right, Booth. Half the cheer squad spends their days talking about you." She put on a high pitched voice. "Ooh, he's just so _big _and _manly_. He's the best I've ever had. Seeley told me that I was _his_ best too," she imitated. "You really expect me to believe the load of crap you're trying to tell me?"

There was a heavy silence, and Tempe returned uncomfortably to her work.

"It's not crap," Seeley almost whispered, seemingly to himself. "I've never actually done... that."

Bren looked up at him curiously. "Why?"

"Why should I?" he murmured, staring down at his page, his face twisted with discomfort. "I mean, yeah, I want to – I'm not _gay_ or anything - but surely there should be a bit more to it?"

Tempe wasn't sure, but she didn't think he was expecting an answer so she stayed quiet.

"I'm not a complete stiff; I'm cool with the whole sex before marriage thing. Unless my parents are around of course; as far as their concerned, I would never, _ever_ do something so sinful. But I reckon it's meant to be something special, between two people who care about each other."

"But sex is simple a biological urge, designed to ensure the continuation of the species. And you are a young, healthy and structurally appealing male, meaning the females will be naturally attracted to you. Additionally, your testosterone levels are extremely high at this stage of development, meaning you have increased libido and your penis is highly sensitive. And I'm not even going to get started on your comments regarding the bible. So why - and how, for that matter - have you not taken advantage of those factors?"

Booth was flabbergasted. After a minute, he became aware of his mouth hanging open as he stared as her, and he promptly closed it.

"Biological urges? Structurally appealing? Jeez woman, you're like a freaking dictionary! And do you mean to tell me that any time you feel one of these 'biological urges'," he used air quotes to emphasize his point. "That you just go find some random guy and go for it?"

"No, I do not. I'm still a virgin. Unlike you, I do not have appealing features, my bloodstream is not packed with testosterone and, with everything happening in my life, I don't have time to even consider sexual release," she explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Well, I think you're attractive," Seeley said softly, looking into her eyes.

Temperance could tell that he wasn't lying. "Thank you," she replied in an equally quiet voice. "No one's ever said that to me before."

"Well, they're all blind," he assured her, smiling charmingly.

As they packed their books away a few minutes later, Temperance made an offhand remark. "You know, I think Seeley Booth might not be totally like the rest of those jerks after all."

He hoisted his bag onto his back, then looked straight at her. "Thank you, Bones. No one's ever said that to me either."

And with that they left the classroom and went their separate ways.

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So, what'd you think? You wanna know what I think? A review a day keeps the doctor away!! (aka - me in the future) So, if you dont want me (or my alter-ego Eli) to come after you with sharp instruments, REVIEW!!

(Im joking about the sharp instruments... I dunno above Eli though) **PLEASE REVIEW AS IM NOT SURE IF I LIKED THIS CHAP**

Ta muchly, Kezz


	5. Of Foster Families and Football

**Gday all. **Sorry its been a while; end of term, so assignments and prac exam. I now have 18 days for study before my written, so I figured I try to get this one up at least. AND I TURN 18 IN 9 DAYS!!

Okay – once again, thanks for the reviews, **you guys are the best**! And just to clear something up – I am using my **poetic license** here people! I have a number of friends who were/are in the foster system and I know that the majority of **foster parents are wonderful, loving people**. But I need some bullies in my story, so I invented some! I don't mean to offend anyone, but the story just worked better that way.

Oh yeah –

**Arvo:** Aussie slang for afternoon.

**Daggy:** Shabby, untidy, not the latest fashion. (It actually comes from Dags, which is the name for the matted and gross wool around the Sheep's backside (baa!). Dagging is the process of shearing the sheep's butt, getting rid of dags and stopping them getting flyblown.)

**Garbo:** Aussie slang for garbage collector. It's mainly used in normal speech, but is also used as a derogatory term or a nickname.

Thanks to **Boothissexy** for being a kick arse beta and writing part of this chappie. Enjoy!

**Kezz**

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It was Friday night, so Temperance was hurrying home. On Fridays, Patrick, her foster father, would head to the pub with his mates for an evening of drinking; playing pool and perving on young women, and his wife Caroline had her weekly social gathering. If she was particularly lucky, there would be a football game on as well, meaning that her foster sisters would also be absent.

For Temperance, this meant that for the next five hours she would be able to work uninterrupted, listen to some of her own music, steal some food to stash in preparation for the next time they decided she didn't deserve dinner, or just plain relax. For five glorious hours, she could pretend that her life was normal; that, at any moment, she would hear the putter of her brother's car as he arrived home, or the friendly bickering of her parents in the kitchen.

On this particular Friday, the school football team was playing against their biggest rivals, so it was no surprise for Brennan to find both Camille and Felicia in front of the bathroom mirror, applying makeup, fiddling with their hair and smoothing their identical cheerleader's outfits. Shaking her head in disgust, Temperance continued on her way to her bedroom. The one room in the house which she called home was quite bare by any standards; it was furnished with an old single bed, a small desk and chair, and had an inbuilt wardrobe.

Unlike her sisters, her walls were not adorned with posters of the latest celebrities and pictures of school friends and her wardrobe was not filled with the latest clothes. Her walls were bare except for a large image of a labeled human skeleton and a number of pages covered with equations and other scientific notes stuck above her desk. The skeleton was something Temperance was very proud of - she had skimped for months to save enough money to purchase it. It was worth being accused of stealing and being kicked out of another crappy home for.

Temperance flopped down onto her bed, thoroughly worn out from the day. Down the hall, she could hear Camille and Felicia as they alternated between gossiping about high school scandals and bickering about numerous other mundane issues. After a few minutes, the honk of a car horn ripped through the otherwise silent night, it did however drown out their voices out momentarily.

"He's here!" Camille called out to her sister, who was still upstairs in the bathroom. "Seeley's here!"

Temperance's eyes shot open. 'Seeley?' she thought. 'Seeley Booth?'

Quickly, she got up and moved to her window. Down below, she watched as her foster sister flounced up to him and dragged his head down into a long kiss in which he seemed a willing participant. As Temperance watched on, she felt a slight pang of hurt, but it was quickly overcome by anger. "You lying rat bastard!" she whispered furiously. As if he had heard her, Booth broke away from Camille and looked straight up at her window and into her stony face.

Immediately, a guilty look came over his face, he flushed red and looked down at the ground. Cam and Felicia were too involved in making sure they didn't crush their skirts getting into the car, that they didn't notice his sudden change in demeanor. After a few moments, he slowly raised his gaze back to the window. 'Liar,' she mouthed at him. Then she turned away and disappeared.

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Once again, Temperance Brennan was furious at Seeley Booth. As she paced back and forward inside her bedroom, the boards creaking below her feet, she let out a loud groan. 'I've really screwed up this time,' she thought to herself as she turned away from the wall. 'If that idiot tells everyone that I live here, I'll be out of here and back in that horrible orphanage within a week.'

"Argh!" she screamed, flopping down onto her bed. "Rat Bastard!"

After a few minutes spent staring at the roof and fuming, Temperance had managed to clam herself enough that she was able to use rational thought processes again.

'What does it matter?' she thought. 'It just proves your previous hypothesis – teenage males are unfeeling jerks. You should be pleased that you are correct. And it's not like I even care about what he does, anyway.'

But as she sat up to begin her homework, the feelings of bitterness and hurt still lingered in the back of her mind.

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Booth was distracted as he drove towards the football game, with Camille's hand on his thigh and Felicia in the back seat trying to goad her sister into an argument about something or other. All he could think about was the look on Temperance's face when she saw him and Camille; and the fact that she had called him a liar. In his whole life he had never been called a liar, he made a fact of always being open and honest – okay, so maybe not always, but he definitely wasn't a liar.

"Seeley, baby what's wrong?" Camille asked after 10 minutes of trying to get his attention.

"Nothing… just trying to get into the right frame of mind for the game, that's all." Seeley snapped without even looking at her.

"S'long as that's all it is," Replied Camille before turning towards her sister to continue arguing.

For the rest of the drive Booth ignored everything the sisters said and kept thinking about Temperance and the betrayal he was sure he saw in her eyes. 'Just deal dude, why are you even bothered? It's not like you're hot for her – the woman is crazy! Spouting all that scientific shit and flipping people over her shoulder for no reason… absolutely off her nut!' he told himself. With that thought having eased his tension slightly, he pulled into the parking lot behind the changing rooms, waved goodbye to Cam and her sister, and ran in to quickly change into his uniform.

Emerging with the rest of his team Seeley proceeded towards the cheers that denoted the large number of spectators present cheering on the home team. When he entered the stadium he found himself looking immediately for Temperance, but knowing that there was no way in hell she would be seen at a football game - especially not after what she had witnessed, which seemed to completely 

contradict what he had told her. Growling quietly, he shook himself. 'Concentrate Seel! Forget about her.'

Seeley was off form for the entirety of the game; he fumbled passes, dropped easy balls that he should have caught and almost missed a vital touchdown which ended up deciding who won the game. Despite all that he was still the hero of the hour; that touchdown in the dying seconds of the game had pulled a slim win out of the proverbial hat, and kept them in the tournament.

On the drive home he was still ignoring Camille, deep in thought once again. She persisted though, mostly asking him highly annoying and repetitive questions.

"Are you seeing someone else, is that why you have been distracted?"

"No, ok I'm not! I'm not seeing anyone," He replied heatedly. 'Including you,' he thought grumpily, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"So you're not seeing anyone else, you don't have problems at school or home, so what is it?" Camille asked agitatedly, before putting on a big smile. "Oh, lemme guess, you've been feeling a bit… lonely? Because I can help with that," she asked seductively, placing her hand on his thigh

"Look Cam it's nothing okay, sometimes I just get distracted - it happens. Now will you please shut up about it?"

"Yeah, whatever." Cam replied sulkily, withdrawing her hand and turning to look out the window.

Seeley didn't feel as guilty as he should have done at shouting at Camille, but he just needed time to think, to work out a plan of action. 'Well buddy…first you need to explain yourself, and then you need apologize for not doing that in the first place. And, if necessary,' he thought, grimacing. 'Beg and grovel. I can't fail Chem, I just can't.'

He decided to use the tried and tested method of throwing stones at her window, but he first had to get shot of Camille and Felicia. Pulling up to their house 20 minutes later he waved them out, watching until they reached the front door and turned to wave at him. Looking up towards Brennan's window he thought he saw the curtains twitching, but it could have been his imagination.

Booth pulled away and parked round the corner, where he waited impatiently; the meow of a cat of the soft beat of his radio the only sounds to pierce the night. After ten long minutes, he got out, pocketed his keys and moved silently back towards her house.

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The sound of a car pulling into the driveway dragged Temperance from her work and she looked at her watch – it was 11:30pm, and Patrick was home early. She continued to write as she listened the thumping and swearing as he moved about in the darkness of the lower floor.

The soft creak of the bottom stair drifted under the door, just audible over her music.

"Shit," she swore softly as she slammed her palm down on the off button of her music player and dashed toward her door. Some Friday's, Patrick would come home deliriously happy, flashing around the money he had won on the pokies; other times he was temperamental, and likely to lash out – only at her though – without warning. Tonight was clearly the second type.

Bren quickly turned off the light, plunging the room into blackness, before diving onto her bed and curling up in the far corner. She wasn't afraid of Patrick; she was easily able to fight back and had simply learnt it was logical to be prepared when one of her foster parents was in a drunken state.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the roar of another familiar car coming down the road – Seeley Booth's car.

"Shit!" Tempe cursed again. She paused briefly to listen to the stairs before leaping off the bed, toward the window. As the curtains flew shut, she caught a brief glimpse of the headlights pulling into the driveway and knew she hadn't been sighted.

'So far, so good,' she thought to herself.

Moving cautiously back toward her bed, Tempe once again strained to hear what was happening outside. After a number of minutes, Booths car rumbled back to life, pulled out and roared away into the distance. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

'Have to be more organized than that Temperance,' she scolded herself. 'You can't let people see you here, or you're stuffed.'

Clink!

Tempe jumped at the sudden sound coming from her window.

Clink!

Growling slightly, Temperance moved once again toward the other side of the room and pulled the curtains slightly apart. There, in the shadows, stood Seeley Booth.

After a moment in which she was frozen with surprise, Brennan slid the glass open and poked her head out. "What are you doing here?" she hissed at him.

"Bones! I wanna talk to you!" he called up to her.

"Keep your bloody voice down! And I have no desire to talk with you, so you should leave. Now," Tempe hissed again before turning, as though surveying her room.

"Come on, Bones! Why don't you just come down here and listen to what I have to say, then I'll let you get back to your textbooks… or whatever," he said just as loudly, waving his arms at her.

Temperance was about to reply when her door was thrown open and her light flipped on.

Instantaneously, she dropped the curtain and moved away from the window, making sure to keep her face toward her foster father.

On the lawn outside, Booth heard the door fly open and saw the light flicker on before the curtain was dropped. As he stood there, with his hands clenched at his sides, he watched and listened as the larger of the two shadows began to bellow at the other. The smaller of the pair began to yell back, but was cut off when a hand came to its throat, shoving it against the wall. The larger figure then laid a fist into its victim's stomach, before exiting the room, slamming the door behind them.

After a number of minutes and several deep breaths, Booth forced his hands to relax enough for him to pick up another stone and aim it carefully at the pane of glass.

Clink!

There was no response, so he threw another, but the stillness within the room remained.

He sighed in frustration and scrubbed his hand down his face, before plopping down onto the grass. It was just ten minutes later that the light in Temperance's bedroom went out, but it was many hours later when the statue that had been Seeley Booth finally left.

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Oh yeah! A number of people have asked that I bring in the rest of the crew more. I've already got plans to involve Angie in the next chap or so, but I'm lost for ideas with the others. So, if you think of anything, please drop me a line!

**Now, that little blue button is calling your name! "**_insert name here_**! Come to me, my precious!"**

**Kezz**


	6. Weekend Distractions

**THANKYOU! **for all the lovely reviews, you're all too nice. I _really_ want to reply to you all, but with my uni work load, I simply dont have time, so this is a big, collective THANK YOU!! And special callouts to **Boothissexy** (the kickass beta), **Different Child** (for some awesome ideas) and **Lucy W** (for simply being my wacky Aussie mate and putting up with me!)

**SORRY! **that this chappie is so darn LATE!! My muse absolutely hates me... either that or he (I call him Eli) has a death wish! Three weeks of holidays, and I've got practically nothing!

**ENJOY! **

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Monday was coming much too fast for Temperance Brennan; a highly unusual happening.

After Patrick had stumbled back out of her room, she had pushed herself up from the floor, gasping slightly as she did so, and moved gingerly toward the doorway. He had caught her by surprise; usually he would just rant and rave for a while before stumbling off.

She reached out to shut the door, but was stopped by a foot that poked in as it was almost closed. It was Felicia. As much as she annoyed Tempe with her superior airs and snobby attitude, Tempe had to admit that she had been quite good to her. They were both sixteen, but Felicia was in the normal year level at school, and Temperance often found her to be quite immature. They weren't friends as such; more like civil associates in a business deal – Bren helped Felicia with her homework and assignments and in return Felicia would assist with keeping her out of trouble around the house. It was unspoken agreement that they would have each other's backs at home, but that it extended no further – at school it was each to their own.

"You okay Tempe?" Felicia asked quietly as she shut the door behind her.

"Fine," she replied trying to hide her grimace.

"Sure you are." Without another word, Felicia dragged Temperance over to her bed and plopped her on it. "Shirt up."

"It's just a few bruises," Bren muttered.

"Yeah, except for one bit – he musta caught you with his ring." Felicia quickly wiped the scratch with some disinfectant. "It probably doesn't need a band aid, but better safe than sorry, I 'spose," she said.

"I don't know what that means," Tempe replied in a sullen voice.

"Of course you don't." Felicia stood up and Temperance dropped her shirt back down.

"Here I bought you two ice packs – I suggest you put one on your neck to try and keep that swelling down," she said as she headed toward the door. "Oh, and I'll lend you some turtlenecks to wear for the next couple days."

She turned in the doorway, looking back at Temperance, who sat on her bed, back straight and not a single tear visible on her face. "You sleep, I'll deal with dad."

With that, Felicia left, switching out the light as she did so.

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The rest of Temperance's weekend progressed as normal – by the next morning, Patrick had completely forgotten the events of the night before, and no one was stupid enough to bring it up.

The weather was considerably warm, meaning that it was unbearably hot in a turtleneck sweater, so she spent the majority of it locked away in her bedroom, only coming out when required. Temperance spent this time doing homework or assignments, studying or writing. Felicia was out with her friends so much that she rarely used her computer, so she had allowed Bren to set it up in her room. It was the part of their arrangement to which Tempe had been reluctant to agree – in exchange, she typed most of Felicia's assignment work. It was cheating, she knew, and she didn't like to do it, but she needed both the computer, and to have someone on her side too badly to not do it.

By midday on Sunday, she had finished her homework, done a few hours of study and worked on each of her three assignments, and so had sat down with the intention of writing… something. After an hour of frustration, no inspiration and a page filled with scribbled drawings, Tempe threw down her pad, deciding to go for a walk.

She took her normal pathway; out the back gate and along the dirt track that lead to the park, straight through the chest-high grass of the empty field and past the playground where half a dozen small children ran around, laughing and squealing. Here she sat for a while, silently observing these small humans, following their rapid movement with her eyes, wondering at their ability to interchange laughter and crying so quickly.

From here she would turn right and go down Avery Crescent to where it joined the next small street. At this time of day, they were almost silent; everyone was either inside in the cool or out socializing. After passing another five street corners, she slipped through a hole in the fence in the far back corner of the school grounds.

The high school had a small forest and garden that was used in environmental studies a number of other science subjects, and this was where Tempe was headed. She sighed with relief as she entered the cool forest environment, a small smile gracing her lips. School was definitely where she belonged.

An image of Seeley Booth popped suddenly into her mind. "Wanker," she said aloud, kicking at the gravel pathway, her smile drooping to a frown. Tempe was not looking forward to Monday – she knew he would try to pester her in chemistry, and he and his mates were sure to have a good laugh about her unsuitable clothing. Plus, she was still his tutor, and he was still her assignment partner.

With a small growl, Temperance flopped down underneath a maple tree on the edge of the forest plot; the vegetable garden was to her right and flowers were to her left. This was her favorite spot, because, right in front of her was her favorite flower.

Daffodils.

'Of the genus _Narcissus_,' Brennan thought to herself. They reminded her of home; her proper home, the one she'd had before her family had abandoned her. Years ago, her and her mother had planted a row of daffodils in planter boxes on Tempe's windowsill. She had been so impatient; even though she knew that, logically, it would take the plants some time to reach reproduction stage, she wanted flowers immediately. Temperance had looked after those bushes meticulously, and had forbid anyone from disturbing them. Each spring after, her window was filled with multitudes of the stunning yellow flowers.

The sound of laughter and cheering floated on the breeze, shaking her from her daydream. On the far side of the field, Tempe could see people running around on the basketball courts and others gathered on the sides.

"Cam… putting out… Seel's," the broken sentence travelled to Bren's ears.

"Bloody hell!" she swore as she stood up, dusting off her pants. "That moron is everywhere I go!" Growling to herself, Temperance stomped back inside the tree line and disappeared from sight.

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'Monday was coming much too slowly for Seeley Booth; a highly unusual happening.

Booth was stressed; having spent the majority of his weekend worrying about Temperance – whether she was okay, what she was doing, if he'd hurt her again. Seeley couldn't understand why he was so interested in this darn girl, a fact which just annoyed him even further. His mates had even commented on how agitated he'd been.

What, Cam not putting out for you, Seel's?" Mark said with a laugh as he sent the ball sailing smoothly through the hoop. It was Sunday afternoon; Booth and his football mates had just finished a footy training session and had decided to cool down by playing some basketball – shirtless of course. And it was an added bonus that a group of girls 'happened' to be driving past and had decided to stop and watch.

"Ooh, Seeley's in trouble!" taunted Steve, dribbling the ball just out of arms length. "What'd you do? You got another one on the side?"

Booth dived forward and stole the ball from Steve before streaking up the court and landing a perfect basket. The girls on the sideline all cheered loudly, squealing his name. "I told you before, I'm not with Camille," he called back to his mate whilst throwing a distracted smile to their new cheer squad. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a vaguely familiar figure moving about in the school gardens, but when he turned fully, there was no one there.

"Sure you're not!" Tim shouted from the other end of the court, as he began to jog towards Seeley. When he reached him, he slung his arm round Booths shoulders, steering his gaze to the gaggle on the sidelines.

"Mate, if you ain't doing Camille, why don't you grab yourself one of this lot? There's a couple good pieces of arse in the bunch, and dude, you need a screw. You're wound tighter than a freakin' yo-yo," Tim said quietly.

Seeley shook his head slightly, but didn't reply.

"Watch and learn, bro," said Tim as he strolled confidently toward the group. He walked straight up behind a girl with blonde hair and a large bust, put one arm around her waist, lent over her shoulder and whispered in her ear. Within a minute, the pair where peeling away from the group, headed towards Tim's car.

Seeley shook his head again; half in disgust and half in amazement.

'Sometimes,' he thought. 'It would be so much bloody easier if I was more like the rest of the guys. Life sure would be simpler. Instead, I'm spending all my time thinking about Temperance bloody Brennan!'

It was all a lie though, and he knew it. He didn't want to give in to the urge to sleep around, but he did want to think about her. His Bones.

"Mine?" he exclaimed to himself as he drove home. "You're going crazy Seeley boy! Concern is one thing, but jeez! You can't even stand the woman and her mumbo jumbo! She's annoying, and young, and scrawny, and bossy, and… and bloody annoying!"

But still she plagued his thoughts. Seeley pulled into his driveway and killed the ignition, the silent movie of Friday night playing in his head for the millionth time. He remembered the glimpse he had caught of her face before she turned around.

He was still surprised by what it had shown – there had been no fear to speak of, but rather embarrassment and shame at him being there to witness it, and even from that distance he had been able to see the cold, hard emptiness that filled her eyes. And she hadn't been surprised by Patrick's sudden appearance.

"Fuck!" he cursed. Seeley only just realized what that meant. It wasn't the first time; Temperance had been expecting him. With this new revelation, it took considerable will power for Booth to convince himself to not restart his Camero and go find her.

Why was he so obsessed with this girl? They'd only been properly introduced a bit over a week ago, and already she was crowding his mind. She certainly wasn't his type; not popular, she didn't appear pretty, she was a nerd, a loner, and a foster kid. What makes her so special? He couldn't help but wonder.

Monday was definitely coming too slowly.

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Whew, that took effort! Now, see that little blue button? When you press it, you have to write a review. When you write a review, Booth will apper naked in front of you. When Booth appears naked... Well, I'll leave this bit up tothe imagination. Im thinking chocolate body paint... mmm! PLEASE REVIEW!


	7. Idiots and Eavesdroppers

**Hi all!**

**Sorry for the wait - exams, assignments, flu and all the rest. And a MAJOR mind block. Thanks heaps to all the people who have reviewed - I still cant believe that some many people have actually liked it enough to do so.**

**Anyway, without further ado, chapter the seventh...**

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For the first time ever, Temperance Brennan was late for school. Minutes earlier, the warning bell had sounded as the rowdy mass of teenagers had poured into the buildings, leaving the grounds silent and empty. It was then that Tempe appeared.

She walked quickly and confidently, but with her head held tilted slightly forward, as tough she didn't want to be recognised. As she crossed the field, Tempe pulled down on the sleeves of her dark green turtle neck and loosened her hair from its elastic so it fell forward around her face.

By this time, she had reached the main building, so she pulled open the door and stepped into the corridor, looking both ways to see if she had been spotted. Striding purposefully down the hallway, Temperance was able to make it to class without being spotted. She opened the door slowly, cringing at the squeaking noise it emitted.

"I'm so sorry I'm late Mrs Thomas, it won't happen again," she said breathlessly, her face turning bright pink.

There was a pause, as the teacher was too stunned to reply. "That – that's okay Temperance dear, it happens to everyone," Mrs Thomas replied once she had gotten over her surprise at the lateness of her star pupil. "Take a seat dear."

Head down, Temperance moved quickly o the back of the room and slid into the only available chair.

"Oh, Mrs Thomas, I'm sooooo sorry I'm late. Mrs Thomas, would you like me to give you a foot massage? How 'bout I bake you some cookies?" the boy on Brennan's right, whose name she thought was Steven, whispered in a high pitch voice.

The boy on her other side laughed quietly and joined in. "Please, oh please Mrs Thomas, please don't put me on detention – it would be a mark on my perfect record that I got from being a total suck up and a teacher's pet. I'll do anything, Mrs Thomas!" he whined in an even higher tone.

"Oh, shut up you pair of pathetic Neanderthals! Go play with your penises or something; I'm trying to concentrate," Tempe snapped back, not looking up from the textbook that she had spread out in front of her. 'Note to self,' she thought. 'Ask Angela what a teacher's pet is.'

"Oooh, Neanderthal – big word for a little girl," Steve teased.

"You're just wishing that it was you who was getting me off," the boy on her left smirked.

"Haha, nice one Ben!" Steven laughed as they high-fived one another behind Tempe banging into her head as they did so.

Ben turned back to temperance, legs spread wide apart as he leaned back, balancing his chair on two legs. "We all know you're desperate to be getting some of this," he said with a grin, reaching down and grabbing himself.

"In your dreams moron," Tempe replied in a monotonic voice as the bell signalling the end of homeroom rang.

The two boys stood up and grabbed their bags. "No, in my nightmares, foster freak," Ben snarled, pushing her head down toward the desk as he passed. "Only in my nightmares."

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

Outside the classroom, Tempe's best friend was waiting for her, bouncing up and down on her toes, filled with impatient energy.

"Hey sweetie, how are you? What's with being late? You're never late! I saw what those jerk offs were doing down the back; are you okay? I'm sorry I couldn't save you a seat – that idiot Michael Preston stole it so he could try to flirt with me. Forgive me?" she blurted in a single breath. "Oh, and what's with the shirt?"

Tempe laughed as they started off toward their first class – they both had Ancient History. "Good morning Ange, I'm fine, I just slept in and missed the bus. Those idiots don't bother me so, once again, I'm fine. And don't worry about the seat. Michael Preston – eww!" she replied with a smile in her friends direction as she answered each of her questions. "So, did you do the homework?"

"Tempe..." Ange said in a warning tone. "You 'forgot' the last question."

"Oh, it's nothing, I just like the shirt," Tempe lied, not looking her friend in the eye.

"Again, huh?" Angela said, her voice laced with anger and sadness. "Bren, it's not right, he can't do this; you have to tell someone!"

"Ange, we've been through this," Temperance sighed. "You know that I will get sent back to the orphanage if I tell. Nobody wants me, remember? And, anyways, he's really not a bad person, and I quite like it here – the school has a good Gifted and Talented program and decent resources. And I have you."

Ange put her arm around her friend and rested her head on her shoulder. "You'll always have me sweetie – bff's remember? And I wouldn't give you up for all the art supplies in the world!"

The two friends grinned at each other and continued toward their class. "Oh, and Ange, what does 'teacher's pet' mean?"

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Seeley Booth was on the lookout. He had arrived early and spent nearly the entire morning scouring the grounds, trying to catch a glimpse of his lab partner. But after forty minutes with no luck he gave up and went to meet with his mates, realising that it would be nearly impossible to spot her in the sea of people that were now flocking through the front entrance.

Home room had just finished, and he was strolling with his football mates and the girls from the squad. Seeley had his arm around two of them and was whispering in ones ear; she let out a high pitch laugh and hit him on the chest in response. Although he'd never admit it, the way other students automatically parted to let them through freaked him out a bit. While it did make him feel special and a bit powerful, a bigger part of him was disturbed by the effort that some people made to get out of the footballers way.

Booth looked up as a flash of colour caught his eye in his peripheral vision. 'That's that arty chick, Angela... something. I think she's friends with Bones,' he thought to himself as he looked back over his shoulder. As he watched, Angela and the girl walking beside her turned their heads toward one another and shared a brief smile.

'Shit, there she is!' he thought.

"Listen guys, I just realised I forgot something in my locker. I'll catch up to you, alright?" Not waiting for a reply, Seeley turned and started making his way back down the corridor in the direction they had been heading. Angela's bright clothes stood out from the crowd, so it wasn't long before he had caught up to the pair. He was about to say hello when he heard Angela berating her friend. Closing his mouth, Booth walked behind them, straining to hear the conversation.

"I'll get sent back to the orphanage if I tell. Nobody wants me, remember?" Bones was telling her friend.

Booths steps faltered as he gasped quietly, and he had totake a few large steps in order to catch up.

"And I wouldn't give you up for all the art supplies in the world!" he heard Angela declare, her arm around Temperance.

As he watched, the two friends grinned at one another as they reached a classroom door. As they entered the room, he heard the end of their conversation.

"What does teacher's pet mean?"

The door shut behind them and Booth let out a harsh, mirthless laugh as he started at it. Shaking his head, he let out a big sigh that echoed softly in the now empty corridor. "Bones..."

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**Ok, what did you think? Like/hate/bored ya to tears? Have any ideas? Let me know! I never understood the whole 'life for reviews' thing before I recieved one - it makes ya feel real special that someone, somewhere in the world took the time to drop ya a line and say they liked ya stuff. So please, say hi!**

**And if you have plot ideas or suggestions, drop me a line, as I'm running on empty at the moment. (I have next chap, but after that, Im stuffed for ideas.)  
**

**Kezz**


	8. Spilling the Beans

* * *

**PLEASE DONT KILL ME!!!!!!!!**

Okay, Im really really REALLY sorry that i havent updated in aaages, but i have a number of reasons/excuses. 1 - my muse simply died. caput. entire 3 months of Christmas break and i got not one iota of inspiration. 2 - ive been super busy. musie has just started to poke its head back above the sand, but between learning anatomy and pharmacolocy and countless other things, combined with study, exams and multiple site visits, ive been flat out. oh, and 3 - i didnt have internet for over a month, so once i got it back, i just went crazy reading, and couldnt be bothered writing. SORRY!

So, know that I've made my excuses, if you still feel the need to torture, decapitate or do something else unpleasant to me, you may... but i would really like it if you didn't! Oh, and I've actually started the next chap - it follows on immediately after this one. i would have left them together but im a pedantic bugger and i like the chaps all being the same approx lenght, so i had to cut it. anyways, thats another reason not to kill me!!!

_**IMPORTANT - MUST READ! the 1st chap mentions this taking place after Easter, this is NO LONGER THE CASE. at the time, i had forgotten that American school years worked differently to australian ones. SOOO... the setting is now Octorber-ish, THE START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. Tempe had started at the school a few weeks before the end of the prevoious year, which is how the teachers know shes so smart. **_

**I just went back and changed the first chap, so you might want to quickly read again. Okay, read on!!!**

**Eight**

The afternoon came much too quickly for Temperance, who was not looking forward to Advanced Chemistry, or the tutoring she has to do afterward.

"What's wrong sweetie? How can you be sad when we have a double of Chem. coming up and you get to spend the entire time with that gorgeous hunk of man candy?" A dreamy had come across her face.

Apart from the brief discussion that morning, Tempe had not told her friend any more about Friday night's incident, and had also conveniently forgotten to mention her tutoring job over the past week, so Ange had no idea as to her conflict.

Slightly irritated, Bren snapped her fingers in front of her friends face to get her attention. "If by gorgeous hunk of man candy," she repeated sarcastically. "You are referring to Seeley Booth, well you can have him. He is a chauvinistic pig with on overly inflated ego, and I'm going to have to do all the work!"

Ange laughed good naturedly as the bell for class rang. "Well, now that you've got all that out of your system, let's go. We're going to be late!"

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Angela and Temperance made it into the classroom just moments before the second bell rang. Tempe flopped ungracefully into her seat near the front of the room and dumped her bag on the floor beside her. Ange walked past, sending her a wicked grin and flicking her eyebrows in the direction of Booth, before bouncing off to her seat next to Jack Hodgins. Temperance growled.

"Um, excuse me?" came a voice from Bren's left, snapping her out of her musings about '101 ways to torture Angela Montenegro'.

"What?" she snapped back at her partner, turning to glare at him.

Seeley, who was startled by her minor outburst, leaned back on his chair as he stared at her with disbelieving eyes.

"You just… _growled_ at me," he said incredulously. "Growled."

Embarrassed, Temperance looked quickly back down at the desk in front of her. "Oh, that wasn't about you. My friend Angela…" she trailed off uncomfortably.

Relieved that it wasn't him that her anger was directed towards, he chuckled quietly. "Well, I'm glad to know that. I thought you were planning on attacking me there for a minute."

"Why would I attack you?" she asked curiously, looking up at him. "You haven't annoyed or insulted me yet today."

Chuckling again at how literal she was, Booth considered his options. He could mention the Friday night incident, but he didn't want to give her any reason to focus her current frustrations on him – he would never hear the end of it if he offended her and she put him on his back in the middle of the classroom; it would be all over the school like wildfire and would only make her more angry at him. He decided to go with the simple route.

"Just a joke Bones," he said with a grin.

"Don't use your charm smile on me," she snapped back at him. "It won't work."

"I have a charm smile?" he asked, perplexed."I charm people by smiling at them?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Smiling that stupid smile that makes the entire female population swoon and lets you can get away with anything. Shame Mr. Reid isn't a woman – you could have charmed your way out of failing," Temperance ranted quietly, keeping her eyes focused on the work in front of her.

"Do I charm you?" Booth asked slyly.

"Yeah right," she huffed. "I find it repulsive how that so many women can be wooed by a pathetic smile. And by female population, I meant the likes of Camille – who you are definitely not dating, of course – and her posse of ignoramuses."

There was a long moments silence before Booth spoke. "Can we not talk about that till later on?" he asked quietly as he stared down at his lap.

"There's nothing to talk about Booth," Temperance replied stiffly, not looking at him. "What you do with your time is none of my business."

They didn't speak again, both turning to focus on their work. Booth had trouble focusing; he was feeling quite crushed by her little speech. Annoyed, he tried to snap himself out of his glum mood. 'For crying out loud,' he thought. 'She's one insignificant, uptight nerd that knows nothing about you. Just ignore her; she's not worth it.'

But try as he might, he couldn't quite convince himself that it was true.

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"So, do you wanna get started now or take a break?" Booth asked quietly as the bell rang signaling the end of the school day.

Temperance, whose frustrations had eased as she worked, smiled gratefully at him. "A small break would be great. Do you want to meet back up here in fifteen minutes?"

"Sure thing Bones," he waved a hand at her over his shoulder as he headed out of the room to meet up with his mates

As Tempe continued to pack her equipment into her bag, Angela appeared behind her, grinning widely. "So… how was Mr. Sex-On-Legs today? You pair seemed to be getting fairly hot and heavy at the start there."

"Angela!" Temperance admonished as they began walking through the corridors. "For starters, his name is Booth. And secondly, we were just arguing – he was being his idiotic self as usual."

"I know honey, I'm just stirring you," Ange smiled at her friend and nudged her with her shoulder. "You get fired up so easy, it can be quite funny."

"Oh yeah Ange, absolutely hilarious," Tempe replied, but she too had a grin on her face.

They had reached the car park and were standing in front of Angela's highly expensive car. She had told Bren what type it was when her father had first bought it for her, but Bren hadn't taken much notice.

"You need a ride Bren?" Angela asked as she opened the driver's door.

"No thanks. I'm staying behind to help Mr. Reid with some Prep for his sophomore class tomorrow," she replied, feeling a bit guilty about lying to her friend but not wanting to deal with Angela's fussing.

They quickly said goodbye and Bren turned around to head back into the school. The door to the classroom was still unlocked which meant Mr. Reid was still there, so she went in.

"Ah, Temperance!" the teacher exclaimed. "I was wondering if you would be staying back this afternoon."

"Yes sir, I'm tutoring Booth for an hour or two," she replied as she set her bag down on the nearest desk.

"How's he going? Not giving you any trouble, I hope?" Mr. Reid continued conversationally.

"No, he's no problem," Tempe said. She needed the money she was getting for this job; she wasn't going to let a few moments of immaturity stop her. "He's much smarter than he seems, really. I think that if he put in the effort, he would be able to get quite good results."

Mr. Reid nodded in agreement. "Well, I might head off now, if that's alright with you?"

Temperance nodded briefly as she made her way over to the anatomical skeleton against the far wall. The teacher gathered his belongings and was almost out the door when he ran into Booth.

"Mr. Booth! Good to see you're not keeping Miss Brennan waiting," he said with a nod of his head before continuing out of the room.

Seeley entered the room smiling. He had actually arrived outside the classroom a minute early, but had paused when he heard the teacher question Bones about him. Feeling only a tiny bit guilty, he had stopped to listen to her response, fearing the worst.

As it turned out, he had been pleasantly surprised by her initial answer and was actually quite embarrassed by the surge of pride he felt when she had praised his intelligence. For reasons unbeknown to him, her approval meant a great deal and he was eager to hear it again.

Temperance, whose hands had once again been roaming over the plastic bones, swung around to greet him.

"Hello Booth," she said simply.

"Hey. Playing with bones, huh Bones?" he quirked.

"Don't call me Bones," she muttered as she turned back to the skeleton.

"Sure thing Bones," he replied cheerfully as he flopped down in the seat nearest her.

Temperance growled softly, which made Booth chuckle. 'Stupid alpha male,' she thought to herself.

There was a long minutes silence as Temperance's had skimmed gracefully over the structures of the skeleton and her lips silently formed the names. Booth watched on in awe.

"Why do you do it?" he asked finally, snapping Tempe out of her trance.

"Do what?" she asked, not turning around.

"The bones. You know every one of them, and I think you know more than just their names. Why?" Seeley explained.

"Why what?" Bren asked again, not understanding the question. Why shouldn't she know the bones of the human body?

Booth took a deep breath for courage; he didn't want this conversation to end quite yet. He sensed that this was a personal issue for her, and he knew that if he wanted her to open up to him, he would have to give a little of himself first, something that he never did.

"I mean, why bones? Some people focus on sports, some arts – like your friend," he began.

Tempe was momentarily surprised that Booth knew that she and Angela were friends, but he wasn't finished speaking.

"Me personally, I spend a lot of time on sports, but my thing is wanting to be good, to do good. I think maybe I could study law or criminology one day. Be a prosecutor, or an investigator or something. If I ever get the grades. Maybe I'll just have to settle with joining the police force."

Another long silence followed his speech as they both took in what he had said. They were both feeling shocked. Temperance was intrigued by this sudden insight into his personality, and Booth was stunned that he had said so much. He had never told anyone about his dreams for the future.

"I want to go into forensics – victim identification specifically. I'd be either an anthropologist or a pathologist, I haven't made up my mind entirely yet but I'm leaning toward anthropology – I don't think I could stomach all the flesh and blood involved in studying medicine," Tempe had started speaking so softly that Booth had had to strain to hear her, but her voice had grown more confident as she went on.

"I want to be able to give people closure. To be able to tell them what become of their loved one and give them back to them, so they have the chance to say goodbye. I want them to have what I never got."

The next few minutes was spent in surprisingly comfortable quiet. Temperance continued staring at the bones in front of her, but she wasn't concentrating, instead contemplating what Booth had said. The object of her focus was still seated and watching her, his brow furrowed in thought.

"What happened the other night Temperance?" Seeley asked softly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied quickly.

"Bones…" he warned.

Tempe, who had not had a very good day and was feeling rather short of patience, lost her temper and snapped. She whipped around to face her partner with her hands on her hips and a furious expression on her face.

"Look Booth, it was nothing okay?" she ranted. "You're so interested in my fucking problems, well how's this for you? I couldn't sleep last night, I woke up late which means I missed the bus, and there's no way your _stupid_ girlfriend would actually let me ride to school with her!"

Booth, who had spent the first few moments of her speech with his mouth hanging open in shock tried to interrupt, to calm her down, but she was nowhere near finished.

"So then I had to walk all the way here and I'm wearing this _ridiculous _sweater to hide the bruises on my neck and I'm sweating and it's disgusting and I was late to class. _Then_ I had to put up with your asshole friends taunting me throughout home group! After all, I'm just the foster freak, aren't I?" Tempe continued yelling, her voice get louder with each passing sentence.

"And Angela has been pestering me all day and now I have to put up with your fucking interrogations! So forgive me if I'm not being entirely polite but I've had a shit day and I do _not_ want to talk about it!"

Tempe stopped, and realized that she was standing over Booth and had been practically screaming in his face. Feeling a massive wave of guilt, Tempe straightened up and turned away, but not before Booth could see the unshed tears in her eyes.

"Bones…" Booth murmured.

"No Booth," she said firmly, still not looking at him. "I'm not talking about it anymore."

"Okay then Bones!" Booth stood up and clapped his hands. "What do you say we get out of here? And before you interrupt, I'm not trying to get out of tutoring; I was going to suggest we go somewhere else and do it. The weathers nice, maybe grab some food, sit outside – what do you think?"

As he spoke, he had maneuvered his way around so he was standing in front of her, his knees bent and hands clasped in front of him, a cross between a childish pout and a hopeful grin on his face.

"Please?" he begged.

Trying not to smile at his stupidity, Bren turned away and wiped her eyes before replying. "Alright then Booth, lead the way. But don't think you're getting out of any work, Mister!"

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**Opinions? Not worth the wait? Gunna kill me anyway? I would, lol.**

**Oh, quick question to the Americans among us - how do the year od highschool work? what are the different levels and the age you would normally be when in them? In aust, highschool is yr 8-12 (or 7-12 in sourthern states) and you are 18 or 19 when you finish yr 12 - is the system there anything like this? i am forever confused by all the names (freshmen, sophamore etc) as we generally just use junior and senior, or none at all.**

**Anyways, please Review! Makes me smile!!  
**


	9. Road Trip

_Firstly an apology – I'm sorry I've taken so long to update, but I do have a really good excuse! Basically, long story short, I have Bipolar and haven't been doing so good of late. Somewhere between medications not working, hospital stays and study crises, it seems my imagination has gone walkabout. I've been trying really hard to get it done, but it's been a struggle. For this reason, I cannot tell you when the next chapter will be up – it all depends on what's going on inside my head. Sorry folks!_

_On a happier note, thanks to everyone for the info regarding American high school. Oh, and just for information's sake, I stuffed up when I said we Aussie's finish school at 18-19 - its' actually 17-18 like the American system. I think you guys over there must get your car licenses earlier than us or something, because hardly anyone drives to school here - still on our learners! _

_Also, massive thankyou's to everyone who has reviewed- there's over 200! And particularly __**Carrie (Boneslove-2991)**__ – awwww, thank you times a million! It means a lot. _

_And of course, Lucy, my love (haha, haha) _

_Now, on with the story!_

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The school was empty as the pair traipsed through it in silence. They reached Seeley's car, which was standing alone in the student parking lot and Booth moved to open the passenger door.

"I can open my own door Booth!" Temperance exclaimed grumpily.

"Okay then, Miss Bossy-Boots," he teased back as he shut the door before she could get in. "Was just trying to be polite!"

He grinned cheekily at her and jogged around to the other side of the car, trying not to laugh as she glared after him and muttered under her breath. Still grumbling, Tempe reopened the door, flopped into the passenger seat and stared resolutely out the front window.

"Aww, don't be like that Bones," he said with a grin as he pulled out of the lot.

"Don't call me Bones," she muttered under her breath, her head turned toward the window so Booth couldn't see the little smile that had appeared on her face.

A few minutes later, they pulled over on a relatively quiet street lined with small businesses.

"What are we –" Brennan began.

"You wait here Bones, and protect the car," Booth interrupted as he leapt out of the car. "I'll be back in a minute."

Before she could respond, Booth had slammed the door and dashed around the back of the car and into one of the stores back down the road. Bren huffed in annoyance at his dismissal, and began tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for his return. After what seemed like forever Seeley returned, stopping briefly to place something in the boot of the vehicle before getting back in.

"You took your time," Tempe grumbled. "What was so important anyway?"

Booth glanced over at her and shrugged noncommittally, not answering. Checking quickly for traffic, he steered the car in a u-turn across the empty road and headed back in the direction they came. They travelled in silence for a short while.

"Where are we going now, Booth?" Brennan asked, exasperated.

"You'll see," he replied mysteriously. "It's not too far away, maybe twenty to thirty minutes drive."

"Thirty minutes?" Temperance exclaimed angrily. "Thirty minutes? You said we were going to sit outside to study, not go gallivanting off around the countryside! Take me back Booth."

Booth looked over at her, a pout on his face. She had never been very good at reading people's emotions, but she thought that he looked a bit hurt by her outburst.

"Oh, come on Bones. I told you that we would go somewhere pleasant and do our work, and that's exactly what we are going to do," he said, pausing shortly. "I wouldn't lie to you Temperance."

Bren was momentarily overcome by the sound of her name on his tongue; the way he said it made her shiver and her stomach felt like it was full of butterflies, which she knew was impossible. She was snapped out of her reverie by a voice called her.

"Well Bones? You still want me to take you home?"

Tempe looked up and was surprised to discover that, while she had been thinking, Booth had pulled the car to the side of the busy road and was staring expectantly at her.

"It's okay. Keep going," she replied abruptly, tipping her head forward and looking at the window. As she did so, her hair fell down around her face, and prevented Seeley from seeing her cheeks, which were tinged pink with embarrassment.

The rest of the trip was spent in an awkward silence; Booth was trying to figure a way to make her smile, while Bren was berating her body for reacting the way it did to Booths voice. After approximately twenty more minutes of driving, Temperance snapped suddenly out of her musings and realized that the scenery had changed from bustling housing estates to dense green forest. They were travelling on a small bitumen road, and she had absolutely no idea where they were.

"My auntie," Booth said randomly, almost as though he had felt her growing anxiety and had decided to break the silence. "She's really into all that plants and animals stuff – she's got some degree in it and all – she works as a ranger at Ridley Creek State Park; even lives in one of the houses inside the park. We used to come out here at least once a month when I was little."

Temperance felt reassured knowing her location, but wasn't sure whether she was meant to respond to his comment, so she stayed silent. Sure enough, they passed a large sign board that read 'Welcome to Ridley Creek State Park' just minutes later and Tempe began to feel more relaxed.

They drove deeper into the park at a steady pace, Booth breaking the silence occasionally to point out different features. Temperance was beginning to enjoy herself; she had always loved the peace and tranquillity of such environments, and for the first time in a long while she almost felt trouble free.

Booth turned onto a dirt track that veered off to the left and pulled up to a gate the gate was held shut by a large, padlocked chain and it bore a bold sign saying 'NO ENTRY – AUTHORISED PERSONAL ONLY'.

"Booth," Bren said anxiously. "Can't you read the sign? We aren't allowed here!"

"We are if I have the key!" he replied, grinning. With that he jumped out of the car and headed over to the gate, leaving a frowning Brennan behind him. Moments later, he got back in the car and pulled forward, before getting out to close the gate again.

The travelled slowly down the gravel track for a few minutes before Seeley pulled the car into the tall grass that ran along the edges of the path. Tempe craned her head, looking about herself. As far as she could discern, there was nothing more special about this section of trees compared to any other.

"Grab your bag Bones!" Booth said enthusiastically as he got out of the car. "We're almost there!"

Brennan, who was wondering exactly where 'there' was, slung her bag over her shoulder the shut the car door behind her. She had to smile; Booth was bouncing around like a small child, and his happiness was rather infectious.

"This way Bones!" Seeley called from where he stood at the edge of the tree line. He too had shouldered his school bag and he was carrying the mysterious plastic bag from earlier.

"Are you going to tell me what's in the bag yet? Or where we are going?" Tempe asked teasingly, even though she already knew the answer. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Temperance's mouth snapped shut in shock. She was not, in her nature, an outspoken person, and this sudden burst of confidence had thoroughly surprised her.

"Nope!" he replied, happily oblivious to her inner turmoil. "Now, follow me!"

They traipsed through the forest for a number of minutes. Every so often, Booth would stop and examine a patch of bush in front of him. After the third time he had done this, Tempe realised that he was following a trail; one that was invisible to her, but that he had memorised using trees and such as markers. Tempe was impressed.

After another five minutes of walking though the dense scrub, the broke through the tree line onto the grassy bank of a small creek. The clearing wasn't large; it ran along the river bank for about ten meters and was no wider than four, and it was enclosed on three sides by the lush forest, giving it a secluded and maybe even romantic feel. Clear water bubbled over the rocks in the small creek that bordered the remaining side, brushing against the foliage that overhung the bank on the far side of the creek.

Temperance gasped softly. It was beautiful.

"Do you like it?" Seeley asked hopefully, eager to please.

Temperance moved slowly forward until she was standing halfway between forest and the river. She turned around to smile joyfully at Booth, who was still standing under the edge of the canopy.

"I love it."

Booth grinned back just as widely, and moved forward before plopping himself on the ground.

"Now is this a better place to study, or what?" he gloated.

"It is a much nicer location," Brennan conceded as she took a seat near him. Pulling a hair elastic off her wrist, she pulled her hair in to a messy pony tail.

"So, what first?" Booth asked her as he began to pull his books from his bag. "Tutoring or assignment?"

Brennan, impressed that he was so eager to keep his end of the bargain and was not trying to distract her let Booth choose, and they were soon picking up from where they had left off with their assignment a few days earlier.

About twenty minutes in, Temperance, who had really been feeling the heat of the afternoon sun, leaned back from the notepad she'd been taking notes in and stretched, before peeling off the thick turtle neck sweater she had been wearing. Underneath she was wearing a simple black singlet.

"Ah, that's better," she sighed quietly.

Booth, who until this time had been reading over a printed document, looked up at her. His breath caught in his throat.

"Bones!" he gasped softly, staring at her.

"What?" she asked confused. "Are you okay Booth?"

"Your neck..." he whispered, reaching a hand out toward her.

Temperance recoiled immediately, the look on her face one of horror. She grabbed at the jumper sitting neck to her and moved to put it back on.

"Temperance, stop," Seeley said in a gentle but firm voice as he placed a hand on her jumper, preventing her from getting it over her head.

Feeling defeated, Temperance dropped the item of clothing and turned away, her head hung low. As she tried not to let the tears that were forming slip from her eyes, she heard a shuffling behind her.

"Turn around Bones," Booth said softly.

Sighing, she did as he asked. Immediately her head was engulfed by blue fabric.

"Arms up," he spoke again. As he did, he carefully guided her arms through the arm holes of the shirt.

Looking down, Brennan saw that she was now wearing a navy blue polo that was embroidered with the logo of the school football team, the North Penn Knights. Feeling Booths hands at her neck, she automatically cringed, but relaxed when she realised that all he was doing was making the collar of the shirt stand up.

"There we go," Seeley murmured, causing Tempe to glance up at him. He was sitting cross-legged directly in front of her, less than an arm length away and was now wearing only a body hugging white singlet on his top half.

"Thank you Booth," Temperance whispered, looking back down at her lap, he cheeks flaming red with embarrassment. She couldn't believe she'd made such an error as taking the sweater off, or that she'd been comfortable enough in his presence that she'd forgotten why she was wearing it in the first place.

"Whenever you're ready to talk Temperance, I'm right here," he replied gravely, staring at her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Bren broke the silence.

"This is my seventh foster home," she said quietly, her gaze firmly fixed on the ground in front of her as she twisted her fingers nervously in her lap. "No one wants a teenager; they all want the cute little kids. Well, some do want teenagers, but in my experience it's rarely for pure reasons."

She glanced up at Booth, who was watching her carefully. She could see his jaw clenched and a small blood vessel near his temple pulsing. He looked angry, though she wasn't sure why. After a moment in which he didn't say anything, she continued.

"The second family I was with were lovely. They had no children and were fostering me and another girl. A couple of months after I arrived they got pregnant, and they didn't have enough room in their house, so I had to leave."

"The fourth placement was the worst," Tempe paused, unsure if she should continue, but at that moment, Booth reached over and grabbed her hand in his.

She looked down at their entwined fingers and wondered how such a simple action could evoke the rush of strange and confusing emotions she was experiencing. She didn't know why, but for some reason she felt braver when Booth was holding her hand, and she took a deep breath and continued her story.

"On one occasion, my foster parents locked me in the trunk of a car for 2 days when I broke a dish. I can be quite clumsy. They warned me it would happen, but the water was so hot and the soap was so slippery." By the end of her tale, Bren was almost whispering.

"Bones," Booth murmured, using his free hand to swipe her cheek, which she noticed now had tears on it.

Bren came to her senses suddenly and couldn't believe she had told this boy, who was basically a stranger one of her most personal stories. Shaking her head she extracted her hand from his and sat up straight.

"My point is that I have experienced much worse in my life, and so you don't need to worry about me," she said harshly.

He knew that her words wouldn't make him worry any less, but he didn't want to make her angry so he stayed silent. After about ten minutes in which Brennan had been staring fiercely at the textbook on her lap and not speaking, Booth noticed that the sun was starting to set.

"It's getting late Bones, we really should be heading back," he said as he started to pack his books up.

Brennan nodded her head but didn't say anything, choosing to simply follow his lead. Moments later they were traipsing back through the dense scrub toward the car. Still not speaking, they got in, Booth started the engine and they headed out of the park.

The first half of the drive home was spent in a tense silence. Bren was still berating herself for all the mistakes and slip ups she had made in Booth's presence, while Booth thinking up wonderful methods in which he could inflict the same pain on her foster father that he had inflicted on her.

"One day, I will have to introduce you to my auntie. I think you would really like her," Booth said randomly.

"I'd like that," Brennan replied softly with a brief smile in his direction.

Just like that, the silence in the car went from tense to comfortable and familiar, and they spent the rest of the ride in that manner.

As he had done last time, Booth pulled up in the street around the corner from the Saroyan household and killed the engine.

"Will you be okay? He asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine Booth," she replied with an empty smile. "Like I said earlier, I'm a big girl who can look after herself, and I've been through worse."

This statement did not instill anymore confidence in Seeley, but he didn't mention it to her.

I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked her, trying to hide the hopefulness and anxiety he was feeling.

"Maybe," she replied vaguely before becoming serious. "Thank you for this afternoon Booth. I haven't had the opportunity to enjoy myself in a long while."

"It was my pleasure Bones," he said in an almost whisper, staring at her once again.

After a short pause, Temperance turned and opened the car door and got out. She didn't say anything more as she shut the door and began walking down the footpath. Booth watched her in his rear view mirror until she turned around the corner and disappeared.

With a deep sigh and a shake of his head, he started his car and headed for home. It wasn't until much later he realised they'd never eaten the treats he had bought from the diner.

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Well, there you have it - Chapter Nine. I hope you like it. Please review if you have a spare moment!

Oh, and on a very good note - since I wrote that message at the top I have had a brief moment of inspiration and managed to write the next chapter. I will probably not post it for about a month to try give myself time to keep going.

Ps - I know it looks like there's a lot of spelling mistakes throughout the entire story, but most of them are not - its how the words are spelt in Australia. Anyways, Catchya later!


	10. Different and Special

_Hi folks. I wasnt actually going to post this at the moment as I am not particularly happy with it, but after watching the latest episode and how it ended I am in dire need of some cheering up - I literally got all teary and cry-y when she rejected him (I really shouldnt get this attached to imaginary characters!). Anyways, reviews will cheer me up!_

_Despite my misgivings, I think this chapter contains a reasonable amount of 'awwww' and 'oooo' moments for you to enjoy. Now, read on!  
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The following morning, Temperance Brennan was feeling rather nervous.

Once again wearing a long sweater and her hair down to cover the bruises smattered across her body, Tempe entered the school slowly, eyes down and teeth gritted. When she arrived at her locker, temperance looked up in shock. She had fully been expecting the 'popular' students to attack her the moment she arrived, but they were ignoring her like they usually did. It seemed that Booth hadn't ousted her. Suddenly, Bren felt a rush of doubt for having doubted him. He had said that he wouldn't repeat anything that she told him, and she should have trusted him to keep his word.

"Hey Bones!" she heard a voice call behind her.

She turned around quickly and came face to face with Seeley Booth himself.

"And here he is," she murmured quietly to herself.

"Huh?" Booth asked, confused.

"Never mind," Tempe replied at proper volume before pausing.

"So," she continued, trying for a light, conversational tone. "Should you be seen talking to me? Won't your friends want to know why you were conversing with the 'foster freak'?"

"Who called you that?" Booth demanded quickly, his face clouding over with anger.

"It's nothing. Forget I said anything. I've dealt with much worse," Temperance said hurriedly, wishing she had never opened her mouth.

"I'll drop it for now but I won't forget," he replied finally, a deep frown still marring his face.

Thinking furiously, Tempe sought desperately to change the topic to something less personal.

"Anyway, I –"

"Your shirt –"

They both began at the same time.

"You first," Booth offered.

"Your shirt," she repeated. "I'll get it back to you as soon as I've washed it."

"Oh, that," Seeley replied casually. "Don't worry about it; I have a stack of them. You can keep it if you want."

"Um, okay," Temperance replied uncertainly. Although she would never admit it out loud, she was secretly very relieved. She had hidden the polo under her sweater before entering the house the night before, not wanting to get caught with it on by either of her foster sisters. By the time she had finished her evening routine she had been too tired to do anything more than take the scratchy sweater off and collapse into bed, still wearing the shirt. She wasn't really sure why, but the smell of him had comforted her greatly, and it was the best night's sleep she had had since her parents had disappeared.

"Bren!"

A voice from behind her startled her from her musings and caused her to jump slightly.

"See you later Bones," Booth said with a smile before disappearing into the crowd.

"What as that about?" Angela asked eagerly as she reached her friends side.

"We're assignment partners," Tempe reminded her. "He was organising to meet after school to work on it."

She wasn't sure why she was lying to her friend, but some part of her didn't feel like sharing whatever it was that was going on between her and Booth.

"Looked like her was standing a bit too close to be talking about school work," Ange said dubiously.

"I don't know what you are talking about. Maybe he has issues understanding personal space?" Bren responded. "Either way, the sooner this assignment is finished, the better."

"Okay," Angela conceded before changing the subject. "Guess who asked me out?"

"I have no idea," Temperance said absently, her mind still on a certain male.

"Jack Hodgins!" Angela gushed. "He's cute in a kind of dorky way. You know him from class don't you? What's he like?"

"Hmm?" Tempe murmured.

"Bren! Are you even listening to me?"

"Sorry Ange," she apologised. "I'm listening now. Did you say Jack Hodgins?"

"Yeah!"

"Well did you tell him no?" Bren prompted.

"No! Why would I do that? I told him I'd think about it," exclaimed Angela feeling rather affronted.

"Relationships are ephemeral and are simply used by people in western society for stability and to gain regular sexual gratification. What people call love is actually a matter of brain chemistry, and attraction is based on how aesthetically pleasing the potential partner is physically," Temperance spouted.

"The idea of monogamy is a social construction that has only been passed down through much more recent generations, and polygamy is still legal in many countries today. Having only one sexual partner is actually detrimental to the continuation of the species as it limits the genetic combinations of future generations."

"Sweetie, slow down! Apart from the fact that I have no idea what half of what you just said means, I am a spiritual being. I believe in love, and I enjoy the connecting that comes from relationships, regardless how long they last. And anyway, no one mentioned anything about procreating!" Ange exclaimed. "We're not all asexual like you Bren."

"I'm not asexual Angela, surely you should know that. If I was, I would be able to reproduce through binary fission, which I clearly cannot," temperance said, rather confused by her friends statement.

Angela laughed and slung her arm around Bren's shoulders.

"Ah, I love you sweetie. You're the best," she said.

At that, the bell signalling the beginning of the school day range, so they joined the crowd in moving toward their first classes.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

"So, how was your day?" Seeley asked when he and Temperance met in their usual classroom for tutoring.

"It was fine. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know, but that's nothing out of the ordinary," temperance replied honestly.

"You already know everything you're being taught here? Booth asked in awe.

"Well, I can't say whether I know everything as I have not had all of the classes yet. But I do tend to be familiar with most subjects taught at this school," Tempe explained.

"My Bones is a genius!" Booth said with a smile. "But if you're so smart, why are you still in high school?"

Temperance frowned and turned away from him, walking toward a desk.

"I used to go to a school of excellence, back before..." she trailed off as she sat down. "There's no funding in the foster system to send kids to special school. I just have to make do with what I have."

Booth was silent as he moved to join her at the low table.

"I'm sorry Bones," he said finally.

"It's okay Booth, there's nothing that can be done," she replied before forcing a more cheerful tone. "So, hat so you want to start studying today?"

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

An hour and a half later, both Booth and Bren were feeling tired and so decided to finish up for the day. Without saying a word, the pair headed across the deserted parking lot to Seeley's car and got in.

"Hey Bones?" Booth asked as he started the car.

"Yes Booth?"

"I can't tomorrow and Thursday is football practice, but on Friday do you want to study at my house?"

At Temperance's alarmed looked, he hurried on.

"I know you didn't like the idea when I suggested it the other day, but it wouldn't just be us there – my pops and little brother will be around; we can have some afternoon tea and the table at home is much more practical, we don't have to go out of the living area –"

"Booth!" Bren exclaimed with a chuckle. "You are rambling. Studying at your house seems like a wonderful idea. I shouldn't have jumped to such rapid conclusions about your motives last week."

"Oh," Booth said, surprised that he didn't have to convince her further and feeling a little guilty in knowing that the conclusions she had reached earlier probably weren't that far from the truth – sure he had had no intention of trying it on with her, but he had planned to charm her into doing his work for him. "Okay, cool. Great. Awesome."

Brennan shook her head in amusement. This was the person the cheerleaders couldn't stop gossiping about? The smooth talking sex god that simply oozed confidence? It didn't seem likely.

"You don't happen to have a mental illness do you?" she blurted out without thinking.

"What?" Booth exclaimed, flabbergasted. "What on earth makes you think that?"

Temperance, who had started turning bright red with embarrassment as soon as she realised she had spoken out loud, shrunk down in her seat wanting to make herself as tiny as possible. Of it wasn't for her knowledge of physics, she would have wished to disappear altogether.

"I was just thinking that you are nothing like that cheerleaders and popular girls say you are," she mumbled, barely audible.

"Okay..." Booth said slowly. "What does that have to do with me being mental?"

"Well, I decided that either you must have Dissociative Identity Disorder, or those girls don't know the first thing about you," she explained with growing confidence.

"Social what disorder?" Booth asked, still confused.

"Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder. I was wondering if you have it, because the way you behave around me is nothing like what I have heard," Bren continued.

There was a pause before Seeley responded.

"I don't have multiple personalities, and I'm not who they say I am. They don't know me Temperance, not at all," she said seriously.

"So why do I?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know," Booth responded softly. "You're different from all the rest. Special."

There was a moment's silence, and Temperance realised that they had reached their destination. Feeling impulsive, Tempe leaned over and quickly placed a soft kiss on Booth's cheek.

"Goodnight Seeley. See you tomorrow," she said quietly as she got out of the car and disappeared around the corner.

Still frozen in his seat, one hand touching his cheek, Seeley Booth could only stare after her in amazement.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

Temperance closed the front door with a smile on her face.

"Where have you been?" someone asked snootily from behind her.

Her smile disappearing, Bren whirled around and came face to face with her oldest step sister, Camille. Cam didn't give Tempe a chance to speak before continuing in her dangerous tone.

"I saw you with my boyfriend," Cam spat out, poking her finger into Tempe's chest. "You stay away from him. He's mine. If I ever see you with him again I will make your life a living hell."

"I have to talk to him," Temperance tried to explain without making things worse. "We are partnered together for our chemistry assignment."

Cam wasn't impressed with her explanation and continued to stare down at her, blocking her path to the stairway.

"I don't give a shit what your excuse is. Stay. Away. From. My. Boyfriend!" Cam ranted.

"I can't!" Tempe replied desperately. "I need to get good marks if I want to get a scholarship to university."

"Still not caring," Camille retorted.

Suddenly Temperance came up with an idea.

"Well, I'm sure you will care when your boyfriend gets kicked off the football team," she said clearly.

"What?" Cam snarled.

"If he gets lower than a pass in anything subject he can't be on the team, and so far he is failing chemistry – I heard Mr Reid say so himself," she explained.

An alarmed look flashed across Cam's face at the mention of Booth getting kicked off the team and she was suddenly back in Bren's face.

"He had better pass. If he gets kicked off the team and embarrasses me, it will be your fault," Camille threatened. "But if I see you with him when you are not doing school stuff you will wish you had never moved here."

Cam then pulled away and started back up the stairs. As she reached the top she called out a final comment.

"It's not like he would actually want to spend time with a freak like you anyway."

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

_There you go. As i said up the top, Im not a fan of this chapter. All the same, please leave me a review and make me smile! Oh, and what did everyone else think of the episode? Im curious to know reactions.  
_


	11. That Awkward Moment When

**I. AM. SORRY**. _I dunno what happened... I suppose I got sidetracked and before you know it nearly a year has gone by. I imagine most of you would have thought I had disappeared, but Im still here! Anyway, I hope this chapter makes sense as it was written a LONG time ago and I havent changed much._

_I suppose you want to read it now, so go on._

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

"Oh Seeley!"

Booth cringed when he heard his name being called. It was before school and he was standing in the corridor with some mates. The last thing he wanted was the floozy cheerleader throwing herself all over him in front of his friends – it would only serve to encourage the ridiculous rumour that he was bedding her. All the same, he forced a smile before he turned around.

"Hello Camille," he said a little too brightly.

"Don't call me Camille," she replied haughtily.

"Don't call me Seeley," Booth retorted.

"Anyway Seeley," Cam bulldozed on, completely ignoring him. "I want to talk to you about the foster girl."

Instantly, Seeley was on guard and listening closely.

"It took a lot of effort for me to convince the little nerd to help."

Booth opened his mouth but she cut him off with a glare.

"I know you're failing Seeley. And if you keep failing you will get kicked off the team, which can simply not happen," Cam continued. "I'd have to dump you them and your too handsome for that."

Booth was so surprised with the conversation that he didn't have a clue what to say.

"So," Camille summed up. You better listen to the freak, let her do your work, cheat off her in exams – whatever. Just make sure you pass."

With that she gave a wave and flounced past him to catch up with her fellow cheerleaders. She had almost reached them when she turned back and called out to him.

"You owe me one Seeley. I'm sure you can come up with something to show how grateful you are!"

But Seeley didn't hear her, nor did he notice the cheering and whistling of his team mates, because his mind was stuck on something she had said earlier. She was making Bones help him? And if so, what had she done to Temperance to 'convince' her?

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

This week he didn't have Chemistry on Wednesday, so Seeley didn't end up seeing Temperance for the rest of the day. When the final bell rang he hurried out of the classroom, hoping to find her before she headed for home.

First he checked the queues for the busses, but had no luck there. He then walked back and forth along the front of the school to see if she was walking home, but with all the people pouring out of the buildings he could have easily missed her.

By the time he gave up, well over half the car park had emptied and he was feeling rather disappointed. With a sigh, he got in his beloved car and headed out of the lot. The thought that he could drive to the Saroyan house and hope to find her along the way came to him, but he dismissed it immediately and berated himself for thinking like some kind of stalker.

He sighed again and turned toward home, cranking the music up as he did so. It was not a long drive to his place from the school and he was quite distracted with thoughts of one Temperance Brennan that he was nearly half way there when he remembered that he was supposed to pick his younger brother up from the middle school.

"Damn it!" he swore as he turned into the first side street he came across. Growling angrily he turned the car around and headed back the way he had come.

"What are you doing Seeley boy?" he grumbled under his breath. "You should be staying the hell away from this girl. She doesn't belong in your world. You're the captain of the football team, the star player, the most popular guy in school – she's a nerd and a weirdo. She's a nobody."

Even as he said it the words sounded shallow and pathetic and he couldn't find it in himself to believe them. Still frustrated, he pulled up a red light and yelled, bashing his hands on the steering wheel.

"Get out of my head Temperance Brennan!" he screamed.

The light turned green and he floored it, ignoring the weird looks he was getting from the people in the cars on either side of him.

He arrived at the school a few minutes later to find his brother standing alone at the front entrance, looking rather annoyed.

"Sorry I'm late bro," Seeley apologised as his younger brother Jared got in the passenger seat. "Stupid teacher kept me late after class."

He knew he shouldn't lie, but he had absolutely no intention of telling his baby brother – he still called him that even though Jared was thirteen years old – that he had been distracted by a girl and forgotten about him. Some things were best kept private.

"I'll let you off this once if you go to MacDonald's and get me something on the way home," Jared said with a grin.

"You drive a hard bargain little brother," Booth joked. "But you have yourself a deal."

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

'It's not like he would actually want to spend time with a freak like you anyway' – Cam's cruel voice had been on repeat inside her head as she tossed and turned in bed all the night before. She couldn't help but think there was some truth to Camille's words, and by morning the shield that she so often wore was firmly back in place. There would be no more socialising with Seeley Booth.

On Wednesday she spent the day actively avoiding Booth, hiding away in the library then taking a back path home from school, but Thursday was a day with Advanced Chemistry scheduled in the morning. Luckily, they weren't working on their assignments, so Temperance was able to avoid Booth quite easily. She sat beside Angela and worked quietly, not looking around at him once and when the bell rang the pair left the classroom quickly to get to their next classes.

After being unable to get a minute with her during Chem, Booth spent the rest of the day frustrated and was easily annoyed by the mindless chatter of the cheerleaders that surrounded him and his team mates during recess. Half way through the break he stalked off toward the outdoor basketball courts to let off some steam, leaving his surprised friends behind him. Shooting hoops for the remainder of the lunch hour really didn't do anything to relieve his frustration, so he headed off to English in just as bad a mood as before.

"Jeez Booth," Tim Sullivan commented as they flopped into seats in the back of the room. "What's up with you man?"

Booth ignored him.

"Ah, trouble in paradise?" Sully continued with a grin. "That hot little thing Cam Saroyan ain't doing it for you anymore, huh?"

"Shut up Sullivan," Booth snarled without looking across at the boy next to him.

"Whatever man. You're such a buzz kill," Tim complained before fake coughing. "Loser!"

"Real mature moron," Booth stated flatly before turning away. He ignored Sully for the rest of the lesson, not even reacting when a spit ball hit him in the side of the face just as the bell signalling the end of class rang.

A few hours later Booth was down on the oval at football practice. He was still distracted and was having an awful afternoon on the field, getting absolutely slaughtered by his opponents. He had just had an idea about how he could confront Tempe the next day when Sully smashed into him, slamming him to the ground and thoroughly winding him. Seeley lay on the ground struggling to breathe for a few moments before dragging himself back to his feet.

"Booth!" the coach screamed at him from the sidelines for the third time. "Get your head in the game! One more screw up and you won't step foot on the field next Saturday!"

Shaking his head, Booth forced her from his mind and threw himself into the practice, letting out all his pent up frustration on his opponents. By the end of the session the coach had forgotten his earlier threat and was instead praising him.

"You play like that in the finals and you'll be off to college on a full ride scholarship!" the coach said with a rare smile.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

Friday dawned bright, sunny and warm. Seeley Booth was not impressed – Mother Nature was mocking him and his bad mood. He had slept badly the night before, when he did sleep he dreamed of Temperance being beaten within an inch of her life by her foster father while he watched on, unable to do anything to save her.

He dropped his brother off and arrived at school just before the bell, hoping to avoid his friends and the trail of female fans that, to his chagrin, often surrounded him. His first class was a double of law studies which, thankfully, none of his friends were in because they were all to slack to do some proper work.

Booth got through the rest of the morning and the lunch break with relative ease, but was still feeling a bit anxious at the prospect of chemistry, which was up next. When the bell rang he raced to the room, wanting to have an opportunity to talk to Temperance before class began.

She wasn't there. He stood outside the classroom as most of the students had filed, waiting for her to arrive. She still hadn't shown when Mr Reid arrived.

"Come on Mr Booth," he said as he opened the door. "Inside please. I will not tolerate your continued lateness."

"Yes sir," Booth muttered sulkily as he went inside.

Moments before the bell rang Tempe arrived and took her seat at the front of the class, far away from where Booth was. She didn't look back while Mr Reid was reading a section from the text book, nor when he was writing on the blackboard.

Ten minutes before the bell, Mr Reid called out that they could spend the rest of the time working with their partners on their assignments. Booth moved to the front of the room so quickly that he was there before most people had even left their seats.

"Hi Bones!" he said cheerfully.

"Booth," she replied, acknowledging him with a slight nod of her head. "Let's get started."

Booth was a bit put off by her dismissal of him, but not defeated. They worked quietly for a while until his curiosity got the better of him.

"Why have you been avoiding me the last couple of days?" he asked.

"I haven't been avoiding you," Tempe lied. "I simply haven't had the need to speak with you. It's rather arrogant to assume that me not interacting with you equates to me ignoring you."

"Okay... I take it back," Booth said slowly before changing the subject. "So where and when will I meet you after school?"

"Oh, I had completely forgotten about that," Brennan said bluntly. "Unfortunately, something has come up and I am able to follow through with our plans of tutoring and assignment work tonight."

"Oh," Seeley stuttered.

"I am aware that Friday evenings are when most adolescents go out to attend parties, drink alcohol, consume illicit substances and fornicate," she continued. ""So I apologise if I have inconvenienced you by preventing you from making alternative plans."

Booth was, once again, too surprised by her little speech to come up with a reply.

"If it suits you, we will discuss a suitable time and location for a makeup tutoring session in class on Monday," she finished.

Once again Booth did not respond, but Tempe seemingly took his silence to be assent because she didn't speak again.

Moments later the bell rang and she was out the door and walking away with her colourful friends bouncing along beside her, all in a matter of seconds.

Not for the first time since he had met her, Seeley Booth was stupefied.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

Truth be told, Booth was getting rather annoyed with Temperance Brennan. He had only been properly introduced to her two weeks ago, and already she was crowding his thoughts and haunting his dreams. Add to that she was so hot and cold with him, changing her attitude every second day it seemed, that he had no idea how stay in her good books.

All that said, he needed her. He couldn't fail at Chemistry which meant he needed help with both his own work and the assignment that they had to do together. If he messed up, it would be goodbye to a possible career in football and to college, which he would never be able to afford it without a scholarship.

He lay on his bed later that afternoon, staring blankly at the ceiling while he pondered the issue. If things had gone the way he had planned, they would have been downstairs working on their chemistry assignment and maybe even having fun.

But for all Temperance Brennan intrigued and puzzled him, a small part of him couldn't help but look forward to the day this was all over and she could be out of his life and out of his head for good. Things would go back to how they were before – much less complicated.

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**

_Verdict? Good, bad or ugly? Let me know. I will try an update again in the next two weeks before uni starts, but I cant promise anything. Fingers crossed!_

_On a completely different note, what does everyone think about this Hannah business? I think its ridiculous that Booth, who claims that hes "that guy", who for 6 years knew they would be together can go from that to proposing to another woman in less than a year. Craziness!_


End file.
